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News Nuggets, 06.11.04
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NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...
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Compiled from staff reports
and electronic dispatches
Big season gets R.J. a ticket to pro baseball
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PREVIOUS NUGGETS |
06.10.04: Green
Wave aims for second trip to Omaha ... .. Star football
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06.09.04: ECU
antes up to fend off UVa pursuit of Herenda ... .. Baird
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06.08.04: Draft
notices issued to six champs ... .. Super Regional pairings
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06.07.04: Super
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06.06.04: Demon
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06.04.04: Channel
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06.03.04: Channel
7 picks up rights to Regional opener ... .. Jurich inks pact
with Atlanta Braves... ..
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06.02.04: Aztecs,
Wolf Pack finagle games with Notre Dame ... .. Banished
Texas hurlers recalled for tourney... ..
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06.01.04: Stony
Brook stands in road to Omaha ... .. College Baseball Polls
... .. USM, Memphis players named to Athlon team... ..
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05.31.04: Pirates,
K- Town snag coveted NCAA regional ... .. Title clinches
rare NCAA appearance for TCU... ..
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Conference USA Player of the Year Ryan Jones was a
22nd-round selection of the Oakland Athletics on the final day of this
week's Major League Baseball Draft.
The East Carolina outfielder, a senior, joins six
teammates who were all taken on the first day of the draft. The other players picked, the round in which they were
chosen and the teams that selected them were:
- Junior right-handed pitcher Greg Bunn in the fifth round by the
Montreal Expos.
- Junior first baseman Ryan Norwood in the ninth
round by the Chicago Cubs.
- Second baseman Trevor Lawhorn, a sophomore
transfer, in the ninth round by the Cincinnati Reds.
- Junior outfielder Darryl Lawhorn in the 11th
round by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
- Junior right-handed pitcher Matt Bishop in the
17th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- Senior catcher John Poppert in the 17th round
by the by the Montreal Expos.
Jones, the 667th overall pick, is batting .402 with
19 home runs and 69 RBI's as ECU enters this weekend's NCAA Super Regional
series against South Carolina in Columbia. He was recently named among the
finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to college baseball's top
player.
Jones was also named to the Louisville Slugger
All-America first team last week.
Baseball players' prank nets
felony raps
While this weekend's Super Regional scramble for
berths in the College World Series is playing out on the field, players from
the University of Utah will be worried about the next move by those who work
in a courtroom.
What was intended as a prank in the Utah-Brigham
Young rivalry has a group of Ute baseball players facing punishment much
more severe than either school could dish out.
Painting red "U"s on the "Y" on the mountainside
overlooking the BYU campus in Provo got the players charged with a felony.
Defense attorneys are trying to get it reduced, but so far it's standing and
a court hearing is scheduled for June 21.
"I'll be the first to admit we should be punished.
There should have been something done," pitcher Ryan Breska said Thursday.
"But a second-degree felony charge seems a little much."
Breska, a reliever who graduated last month, and
seven others are charged with second-degree felony mischief, which carries a
maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Breska was arrested May 10 when he went to pick up
pictures taken as the "Y" was painted April 30, the night before the Utes
wrapped up a three-game series at BYU.
"We did it in the hopes that it would be there for
our next game on Saturday, just to add some fire to the rivalry — not that
it needs much," Breska said.
The Utes saw the effort had failed when the "Y" was
a crisp white again by game time the next afternoon. BYU also won 14-9,
completing a three-game sweep.
Breska thought that was the end of the prank, until
he went to pick up his pictures at a local grocery store. A photo clerk who
saw the pictures called police, who had no trouble deducing Utah baseball
players were involved because the film included shots from a team trip to
New Orleans in February.
Police were waiting for Breska when he went to pick
up the photos and was taken to the Utah County Jail, where he spent the
night on the felony charge. Breska was released the next day and police
called Utah coach Tim Esmay to identify the other players, who were
suspended for a game and later charged.
Ryan Florence, Tyler Kmetko, Tyson Olson, Jacob
Waldram and Eric Schaler, Jay Brossman and Jason Price are also charged.
Schaler, a freshman pitcher, quit the team before the end of the season.
Jeff Buhman, a deputy Utah County attorney who is
prosecuting the case, said the charge is a felony because the damage
estimate was more than $1,000, the cutoff between a misdemeanor and felony.
Pranks between the state's biggest rivals are common. Prosecuting them is
not, Buhman said.
"Most of the time people don't get caught from
either university. These guys got caught," Buhman said.
News Nuggets are
compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member
schools, and from Associated Press and
other reports. Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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